Doctor Who: 5 best moments from season 11

Doctor Who’s eleventh season has already finished its run. Here’s a look back at the 5 best moments from Season 11.

BBC America has aired the season 11 finale of Doctor Who. The show will return for a New Year’s Day special. After that, new episodes will not air until early 2020. I miss Team Tardis already!

With a new Doctor, companions, Tardis, and show runner, season 11 has been a completely new slate for Doctor Who. Though there were some downs in this season’s ten episodes, there were also a lot of highs making for an overall solid season.

Here are the 5 best moments of season 11 (spoilers ahead if you haven’t caught up with the latest series):

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1. The Doctor creates a new sonic (11×1- “The Woman Who Fell to Earth”)

The season opener has its issues and is one of my least favorite episodes of the season. However, there were brilliant moments peppered throughout it.

One of these moments is a short sequence of the Doctor creating a new sonic screwdriver out of scrap metal and junk. In this scene we see everything that makes the Doctor so quintessentially lovable – her quirkiness, intelligence, and inventiveness. This was also the moment for me where Jodie Whittaker proved herself as more than capable of being the Doctor.

2. History is kept in tact (11×3-“Rosa”)

One of the best scenes of this season is also one of its most poignant and sad ones. In “Rosa“, Team Tardis finds themselves transported to 1955 Montgomery, Alabama right before Rosa  Parks’ historic refusal to leave her bus seat. There, the group finds a time-travelling criminal who tries to thwart Rosa from being on that bus.

The Doctor informs her companions that though it was terrible what happened to Rosa, her actions made a significant impact on the future. Without Rosa standing up for herself, things could have turned out very differently in the U.S. With a little help from her companions, the Doctor is able to ensure that history does not change and Rose is on the bus that would make her famous.

This leads to the memorable final scene of Rosa refusing to give up her seat. During this scene, the Doctor and her companions realize they are integral to the situation playing out and unfortunately have to not interfere and help Rosa, so history is kept in tact. It’s a sequence that shows how even small actions can change the course of the future. Andra Day’s “Rise Up” plays in the background giving the scene even more emotional resonance.

3. Team Tardis pulls the Tardis lever together (11×4-“Arachnids in the U.K.”)

“Arachnids in the UK” was one of the more mediocre episodes of Season 11. It wasn’t bad, but it wasn’t fantastic either. However, the ending scene is truly memorable and touching. In it Ryan, Yaz, and Graham, the Doctor’s companions for the previous three episodes decide they want more time in the universe and more time with her. The Doctor warns them it could be dangerous and travelling with her will change their lives, but they are insistent. The Doctor proclaims “I love this bit” as together they put their hands on the Tardis’ lever and pull it.

The relationship between the companions and the Doctor have always been a strong part of what makes Doctor Who so great. What is the Doctor without his or her companions? Companions are also a part of what makes the Doctor who she is. She knows the dangers of time and space and has been heartbroken over losing companions before. However,  she truly does loves humans and can’t resist sharing her adventures with them.

4. The Doctor marries Umbreen and Prem (11×6- “Demons of the Punjab”)

Like “Rosa”, “Demons of the Punjab” was another highlight of the season for its poignant take on historical strife. In this episode, the Doctor and her companions travel back in time to the day Yaz’s grandmother, Umbreen, first got married. This is also the day before the partition of India. Yaz learns that Umbreen, a Muslim, is to wed a Hindu man named Prem. Because of the tensions of the time, their union created tension between Prem and his brother.

Despite the tensions, the Doctor marries the two young lovers later in the episode. During the ceremony, the two incorporate both Muslim and Hindu traditions.  It is a reminder that two people of different backgrounds can come together in love, despite their differences. It shows that love and hope are possible despite dark times. It’s a scene we need in today’s political strife.

5. The Doctor, Yaz, and Graham meet Ribbons (11×9-“It Takes You Away”)

In “It Takes You Away”, Team Tardis discovers a portal to another dimension in an abandoned shack in Norway. In between the two dimensions is an Antizone, a dark and dreary place that acts as a buffer. There they meet Ribbons, a strange creature who talks in the third person. For the Doctor’s sonic, he will transport the three safely through the Antizone, which flesh-eating moths also inhabit.

The Antizone and Ribbons are classic Who, imaginative and interesting world building. Ribbons is a memorable creature not only for his fantastic design, but also for the mystery that surrounds him. We never really find out why he is in the Antizone or who he really is, but it is better like that. His mystique just adds to the unsettling and creepy vibe of the Antizone. Not to mention, the idea of flesh-eating moths is absolutely terrifying. The Antizone and its inhabitants will be sticking with me for a while.

What was your favorite moment of season 11? Comment below!